Re: Legal text for review.

[Alexander Kirillov <kirillov math sunysb edu>]

It may be right but frankly, who will ever read this section other
than lawyers? And I do not care too much whether CAPS make it
difficult to read for them or not :) For me, seeing LEGAL JUNK IN CAPS
just makes it easier to see what parts I do not need to read at all. 

Sasha


On Thu, Nov 15, 2001 at 03:46:08PM +0000, Pat Costello wrote:
> believe me Kristin, I agree with you...I'm not defending the uppercasing...it's 
> not my decision to use uppercasing...someone with legal clout needs to make a 
> statement about this...it is not only a technical communication issue. 
> 
> 
> Pat
> 
> 
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> > Subject: RE: Legal text for review.
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> > 
> > I've just recently joined the GNOME documentation project (about when the
> > discussion of the legal statement started).  I'm fairly familiar with the
> > GNOME Style Guide, as I have reviewed my colleagues documents for adherence
> > to GNOME style.  I guess my main argument against using all capital letters
> > for the legal statements is that it goes against accepted documentation
> > practices. Even the GNOME Style Guide states (in the section on "Grammar
> > and Usage Guidelines for GNOME Documentation) that capitalization should
> > not be used for emphasis.
> > 
> > All caps text is difficult to read, and, as several other people have
> > mentioned, it connotes screaming at the reader.  When text is in all
> > capital letters, it appears as a big block.  Readers are unable to quickly
> > distinguish one letter or word from another, so they generally don't read
> > the text at all.  If the concern of the legal team is that people won't
> > read the legal statement unless it is in all capital letters, I think they
> > will be achieving the opposite effect.
> > 
> > While I understand the origin of capital letters for legal statements, I
> > don't think we should be looking to ancient Rome to justify our
> > documentation practices.  Modern literature on technical communication
> > would tell us that the importance of text is demonstrated by headings or
> > its placement on the page.  I understand the need to protect writers and
> > the corporations that employ them with effective legal statements, but,
> > since informing the reader is the first goal of documentation, I don't
> > think using antiquated documentation techniques serves any purpose.  We
> > certainly can't ask other writers to adhere to the Style Guide if the GNOME
> > User's Guide doesn't adhere to it.   I look forward to working with this
> > team in the future, I appreciate you listening to my opinion
> > 
> > Thanks,
> > Kristin
> > 
> > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> > Kristin Thomas
> > Linux Information Development
> > Linux Technology Center
> > Ph. (512) 838-4546
> > T/L 678-4546
> > Bldg. 908 1D002
> > 
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